


Surprise

by GoldenTruth813



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 05:06:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5484569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenTruth813/pseuds/GoldenTruth813
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco finds many things about 8th year surprising.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of my Drarry Advent on Tumblr for for @elsa-the-snowbitch

Draco Malfoy has encountered many surprises since returning to Hogwarts to complete his eighth year.

To be honest he’s still sometimes surprised that he bothered returning at all.

He’d been surprised to find that all the other returning 8th years were being grouped together in a sort of makeshift dorm, separated not by house but rather joined by experience and age, and had been even more surprised to find himself rooming with Potter. 

He’d been surprised at how easy it was to want to move on, and yet how hard it was to actually do it; at how hard it was to let go of how he still saw himself despite his every effort to move away from the things he had done and become someone different, someone better.

He’d been surprised when Potter had walked up to him that first day, given him his wand back, and called him Draco. At the time he hadn’t actually been sure if he was more shocked that Potter had given him his wand back or more shocked at the sound of his first name coming out of the other boys mouth.

Yes, the most surprising thing to come out of this entire year was definitely Potter. Always Potter. Or Harry. He finds himself increasingly thinking of the other boy as Harry now, and yet still finds himself utterly unable to call him that out loud, despite the fact that he knows how much Harry wants him too.

Harry. Harry with his broken smile who is still trying to save everyone. Harry with his horrible penmanship and ridiculously sloppy half of the room, who leaves his robes and books scattered about carelessly even though he knows it drives Draco crazy. Harry who still wakes up every night screaming from nightmares, always apologizing for waking Draco up and he never bothers telling Harry that he didn’t wake him because Draco never sleeps anymore anyways.

Harry who is always late to class and never remembers his own ink and quill and has taken to swiping Draco’s spare set out of his bag as if it is somehow not Draco’s stuff but theirs. Draco always pretends to be put out, for old times sake of course, but he suspects Harry sees right through him.

Harry who has somehow wormed his way straight into Draco’s heart despite his every attempt to keep him away. Who seems to see straight through Draco’s bullshit and always calls him on it. 

He suspects Harry sees a lot of things about him that he doesn’t see in himself.

Not everything about Harry is a surprise though because he can still make Draco seething mad. They still bicker and fight and push each other’s buttons, but it’s lost its edge and most of the time feels somehow more as if they’re coming together now instead of pushing each other away.

And sure sometimes he still wants him knock him off his broom when they play scrimmage games on the weekend because fuck it all if eight years later and Draco is still so busy watching Harry on a broom that he can’t catch the snitch first. And fuck it all even more if Draco finds he doesn’t care, because he thinks maybe he would give up anything just to see the way Harry looks after the games - red faced and happy, as if all the life is back in his face with his flushed cheeks and bright eyes and windswept hair. He looks beautiful and free and it makes Draco’s heart ache because he thinks this must be what it feels like to want something so bad you’d fight for it. Except Draco isn’t sure if he has any fight left in him.

And yet he feels alive when he is with Harry, in a way that he wasn’t sure was possible anymore after the war. And he sees the way Harry looks at him, he knows what he wants and what he hopes Draco will give him. At least he thinks he does. Draco isn’t quite sure he trusts his own judgement anymore. 

The thing is, Draco wants things too. He wants it so much he feels he might just drown in it.

So one day in late May, when the air is cold but the sun is bright, Draco feels like he really shouldn’t be surprised when, while on his way to Potions, Harry comes out of nowhere and is pulling him down the empty corridor on their left.

He also thinks that he shouldn’t be surprised that Harry’s hands are shaking and his chest is heaving and that he looks terrified, but that despite that fear he is still trying to be the brave one.

And something about it, about the slight tremble in Harry’s bottom lip and the broken sliver of hope in his eyes, makes Draco feel brave. 

And for once he finds that he surprises even himself when he reaches out with his own hands to cup Harry’s face, his hands so warm against Harry’s chilled skin, as he presses their lips together and it is so soft and slow and gentle that Draco feels a little bit broken himself, but also a little bit healed.

When he he finally pulls away, he sees that Harry’s eyes have fluttered shut and his hands have come up to fist in the front of Draco’s robes, and when he finally opens his eyes again Draco can see the surprise and happiness written across his face as clear as day.

And in that moment Draco knows that he hasn’t been the only one hoping and waiting and wanting, and he thinks that perhaps it is not such a bad thing to be surprised after all.


End file.
